Saturday, July 14, 2012

Arsenal, FC, Chelsea FC and Man Utd on alert as Ganso up for sale

Premier League clubs including Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United will be on alert after Santos confirmed Ganso is available for transfer.

Ganso

Chelsea and United have been monitoring the highly-rated 22-year-old for some time, as have the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Porto, and Tottenham.

Reports on Saturday morning suggested Arsenal had also joined the race to sign the Brazil international (see Related Articles), whose future with Santos has been uncertain after he rejected a new contract earlier this month.

Santos had been keen for Ganso, who still has three years left on his contract, to sign a longer-term deal to given them greater security, but he snubbed the offer put to him, which according to reports in South America last week was worth around £30,000 a week.

The contract rejection led to Santos president Luis Alvaro Ribeiro last week being quoted as saying Ganso would be made available for transfer.

And now the club's vice-president, Odilio Rodrigues, has confirmed the midfielder, who will be in action for his country at London 2012 later this month, does not want to play for the Brazilian outfit anymore.

And Rodrigues has admitted the club will not block a potential move should clubs firm up their interest over the summer.

Speaking to Lancenet, he said: "Ganso doesn't want to play for Santos anymore. We learned that from the club's president Luis Alvaro last Thursday.

"Ganso has lost his interest in Santos so we won't try to keep him anymore.

"However, we won't give up his buyout fee. Since Delcir Sonda and Ganso are interested [in a move] negotiations are open but the buyout fee has to be paid."

Sonda is the owner of investment company DIS that own 55 per cent of Ganso's economic rights..

Internacional are also believed to be keen on signing Ganso as a replacement for Chelsea-bound forward Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junio.